We in the Press have not yet learned how to celebrate our own innovators. Too often, we focus on politicians, scandals, or the usual suspects in business. Rarely do we stop to highlight the men and women quietly building firms that employ hundreds, attract global capital, and put Kenya on the map.
Today, I choose to celebrate Ken Njoroge, the founder of Cellulant. He started in 2002 with an SME. Two decades later, he runs a digital payments company with operations in several African markets and a workforce in hundreds. Even more important, Njoroge has grown into an angel investor and mentor to dozens of younger founders.
In the world of high-growth entrepreneurs, success is not measured simply in turnover or profit. It is assessed in the multiplier effect—the entrepreneurs who once worked with you but later left to build their own high-growth firms. On that score, Njoroge has one of the longest multiplier maps in Kenya.
And make no mistake, Kenya is rattling—sometimes violently—with a new generation of entrepreneurs building technology-enabled businesses that can scale beyond our borders. These ventures are not the micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) we are familiar with, such as shops, salons and gyms.
While these businesses play their role, they are often limited in terms of scalability and are funded only by personal savings, family loans or bank credit. The new wave is different. These are ventures built to scale, can attract venture capital, angel investors, and private equity.
Look around. Mike Otieno and Brian Mogeni, the entrepreneurs behind the firm, Waudia Ltd, are connecting social media influencers with corporates, reshaping the creative economy. Hilda Morara, the founder of Pezesha, uses digital lending tools to extend affordable working capital to small businesses. Joyce Ann Wainaina is backing early-stage entrepreneurs with capital and mentorship.
Joe Rehman of Victory Farms has turned cage fish farming into a value chain that delivers fresh lake fish to Nairobi homes.
Jesse Moore of M-Kopa and Majdip Tozom of De Light have built a fintech business taking solar power to homes across East Africa.
Uncover is producing skincare products for African skin and selling them online and in supermarkets. And of course, Wandia Gichuru’s Vivo Fashions, which has grown into a big brand in retail fashion.
These are not side hustles. They are high-growth firms, creating jobs, attracting capital, and reshaping our economy. I don’t have the full list of players in this space.
I gather that the regional brand of the company, Endeavours Ltd, is doing an inventory that will include collating views and experiences of founders and setting up and running high-growth firms. The names on the private equity side include the likes of George Odo of Africa Invest, Maryanne Ochola of Endeavour and lenders – Actis and ECP.
If I were in government, I would set up a dedicated State agency for high-growth entrepreneurs. Is it not the height of irony that Kenya does not even maintain a basic inventory of these wealth creators? Policy should be about supporting them, not suffocating them.
Yes, Kenya ranks among Africa’s top four destinations for venture capital. We remain a magnet for talent and capital. But listen to this anecdote.
A young entrepreneur raises $250,000 in funding and announces it publicly. A week later, officers from the Kenya Revenue Authority show up at his door demanding to go through his books.
That, right there, is the problem. Our policymakers still operate with an anachronistic mindset. They see entrepreneurs as tax targets, not growth engines. They regulate first and ask questions later.
High-growth entrepreneurship is not about today’s tax shilling. It is about tomorrow’s wealth, jobs, and industries.
When you saddle young innovators with premature taxes and red tape, you are not raising revenue—you are strangling tomorrow’s prosperity at birth.
We have too many institutions doing the same thing in the MSME sector. The model and framework we had in the 70s and 80s for supporting MSMEs in the past was way superior to what we have today.
Based on a graduated model, it worked this way. As a small business and start-up, the first entity you went to for credit was the defunct District Loans Board. If your business grew to a level where you needed more money, you went to the Kenya Industrial Estates, where support included the provision of sheds.
If your needs exceeded that level, you went to the Industrial Development Bank (IDB). Beyond IDB, you were now considered qualified for a mix of financing, a combination larger and longer tenor loans and equity financing, the place to go was the ICDC.
The institution created to support entrepreneurs is dysfunctional.
The writer is a former managing director of The EastAfrican.
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